Ironing machine



Nov. 11 1924.

E. L. YORK IRONING MACHINE Filed May 9. 1921 2 Shani-Sheet. 1

Nov. 11', 1924. 1,515,379

E. L. YORK V IHONING MACHINE Filed May 9. 192! 2 Shanta-Sheet 2 izzygzzz zz Z797! c7715. I

Patented Nov. 11, 1924, I L15937 EDGAR I. YORK, OF PEOBIIA, ILLINOIS.

IRONING MACHINE.

Application filed May 9, 1921. Serial No. 468,033.

T all whom it may concern. latch, for moving and holding the platen Be it known that I, EDGAR L. YORK, a away from the feed rollers. citizen of the United States, and a resident The same numerals of reference are used of Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State to indicate identical parts in all the figures. of Illinois, have invented certain new and As illustrating one form of machine emuseful Improvements in Ironing'Machines, bodying my invention, I have shown a strucof which the following is a full, clear, and ture comprising a frame consisting of end exact description, reference being had to the members 1 secured together by cross memaccompanying drawings, forming partof hers 2 and carrying a feed board 3 and. dis- 10 this specification. charge board 4, the frame 1 preferably be My invention relates to ironing machines ing provided with castors 5 so that the maparticularly adapted for household work in chine caneasily be moved about from place ironing clothes and other materials and in to place. i which the material to be ironed is fed be- Two cushioned feed rollers 6 and 7 are 15 tween the platen which is heated and a mounted as by bearings 8, Fig. 2, upon the plurality of feed rollers which, in addition end members 1, the feed roll 6 being driven to carrying the material through the maby a gear 9 which, together with the other chine, press it against the platen. gearing is shown in dotted lines in Figs. One object of my invention is to provide 1 and 2, the feed roller 7 being provided the machine with means for applying preswith a gear 10, both of these gears meshsure to the platen whereby the material ing with and being driven by a gear 11 which will receive a greater amount of pressure as is secured to and driven by worm wheel 12, it leaves the machine than it receives as it the latter being driven by worm 13 which enters. in turn is driven by a sheave 14: from which 25 Another object of my invention is the a belt 15 extends to a suitable sheave on the provision of means whereby the platen may motor 16, the latter being carried on the be readily removed from the machine for bracket 17 which in turn is carried by one cleaning or other purposes, and as easily of the end members 1 of the machine. re-inserted for use. A suitable belt guard 18 covers the sheave 30 Another object of my invention is to con- 14: and the belt 15 as well as the sheave struct and organize the machine in such a on the motor. manner that the platen may be yieldingly The gearing previously described is enpressed against the feed rollers and, at the closed in a housing 19 which is preferably will of the operator, moved away from the made so that it retains lubricant as well as feed rollers, and further that as the platen prevents injury to the operator. is moved away from the feed rollers, the A memberv or bell crank 20 is carried by edge of the platen which is nearestthe opeach end member 1 and is provided with a erator and below the entering feed roller, boss or trunnion 21 which is adapted to enwill move away from the feed roller before gage a socket or saddle 22"projecting from the platen leaves the other roller. the adjacent end of the platen 23 vwhich, Other objects of my invention will be as clearly shown in Fig. 3, is mounted to an described in the specification. angle to a horizontal plane, its receiving or The novelty of my invention will be hereentering edge being at the greatest elevainafter more fully set forth and specifically tion so that the material in passing through 45 pointed out in the claims. the machine travels downwardly away from $00 In the accompanying drawings: the operator, who stands to the left 'of Fig. Fig. 1, Sheet 1, is an end elevation of a 1, this being the front of the machine. 'The machine embodying my invention. bell crank 20 is pivotally mounted as at 24 Fig. 2, Sheet 1, is an enlarged rear view to the end member 1 and as this bell crank of the upper right portion of the machine. is rocked on its pivot, the platen 23 moves Fig. 3, Sheet 2, is a detail View partly in toward or from the rollers 6 and 7, dependsection of the means for mounting and moving on which way the bell crank 20 is ing the platen. I moved. The free end of the bell crank 20 is Fig. l, Sheet 2, is a'plan view of a porprovided with an eye 25 through which a tion of the foot pedal mechanism and its red 26 passes, the rod being provided with adjusting nuts 27 so that the position of the parts may be properly set.

The lower end of each rod 26 is connected to an eye 28 at the upper portion of a lever 29, one of these levers being adjacent each of the end members 1, the levers 29 bein carried by a square shaft 30, Fig. 4, which is pivotally mounted as at 31 on the end members 1 the lower ends of the two levers 29 being connected together by a tube 32 which together with the levers forms a pedal across the front of the machine, the construction of the parts just described being such that when the operator desires to move the platen away from rollers 6 and 7, the levers 29 are moved around the pivotal point 31 by pressing the foot on the tube 32 and thus moving the bell crank 20 and the platen 23.

A compression spring 33 surrounds the upper portion of a rod 26 and bears against the eye 25 of the bell crank 20 at its upper end and against a movable abutment 34 at its lower end, the spring exerting its pressure to raise the bell crank 20 and the platen 23 to press the latter against the rollers 6 and 7. The abutment 34 is pivoted to the end member 1 as at 35 and is provided with an adjusting screw 36 by means of which it may be rocked on its pivot to increase or decrease the pressure produced by the spring It is to be noted that the point of connection between the platen 23 and the bell crank 20 is located between the points of contact between platen and rollers 6 and 4 though somewhat closer to the roller 7 than to the roller 6 so that a greater amount of pressure applied by the spring 33 is against the roller 7 and it is also to be noted that the platen is counter-weighted as at 37, Fig. 3. so that its forward or upper edge moves downward before the rear edge moves when the bell cranks 20 are pulled down-- ward by the foot pedal.

l/Vhen it is desired to move the platen downward from the rollers 6 and 7 and to hold it in its lowered position as shown by the dotted lines 38 of Fig. 3, the pedal 32, is moved toward the rear of the machine until a lug 39 carried by the lever 29 engages latch 40 carried by the end member 1, this latch being shown more clearly in Fig. 4, it being provided with a vertically arranged portion 41 which extends to a position where it may be readily engaged by the shoe of the operator to the end that it may be released when desired. The latch 4-0 is held in operating position by a spring 42 and is restrained from moving too great a distance by a finger 43 which bears against the web of the member 1 as clearly shown in Fig. 4. the latch being pivotally mounted as by a bolt 44.

The operation of the machine is as fol- Iby simply latching the lows: V7 hen it is desired to pass material through the machine, the burner 15 which is carried by the platen, and which ordinarily is fitted for burning gas though electricity or any other suitable heating medium may be employed, is set in operation to heat the platen, the platen meanwhile being held in its lowered position through the me dium of the latch 40 in which position the platen is steadied by pins 45, shown in section in Fig. 3, which project inwardly from the end member 1, whereupon when the platen has been sufficiently heated, and the operator has placed the material to be ironed either upon the feed board 3 or, if the pieces are large, such as sheets, tablecloths, etc, in the pocket or receptacle 47 of the dis charge board 4, and the motor 16 started to cause the rotation of the roller 67, the operator releases the latch 40 and permits the spring 33 to raise the platen into contact with the roller 67 and feeds the material into the machine until it is engaged by the roller 6, from which it passes to the roller 7 and so through the machine. Should it be desirable or necessary to permit the work to enter a certain distance and then release it, this may be accomplished by pressing the pedal 32 which, through the connections previously described lowers the platen whereupon the position of the work may be shifted, or it may be retracted as desired and the platen again be permitted to contact with the rollers and the work continued.

It is to be observed that the platen, when it is lowered, leaves the roller 6 before it leaves the roller 7 due to the counterweight 37 previously described, to the end that should it be necessary to only slightly release the work for the purpose of straight ening it. a slight amount of movement of the pedal will result in releasing the pre sure of the platen and will lower the en tering edge thereof slightly. Should the work be of such a nature that it cannot readily be fed into the machine when the platen is in full contact with the rollers, the entering edge of the platen may be lowered as previously described to permit the work to be easily introduced.

It is to be noted that the point of application of the upward pressure to the platen from the bell cranks 20 is out of center between the contact points of rollers 6 and 7 and is closer to the roller 7 than to the roller 6 to the end that a greater pressure will be applied to the roller 7 for the finishing operation of the ironing, the contact of the material with the platen produced by the roller 6 being primarily for the purpose of thoroughly drying the material.

When itis desired to remove the platen from the machine, this may be accomplished pedal back to lower the platen as previously described, whereupon the platen may be lifted from its engagement with the trunnions 21 of the bell cranks 20 and moved rearward and downward out of the machine, whereupon the platen may be cleaned if required or polished, etc, and again reinserted in the machine and engaged with the trunnions of the bell cranks 20, and the pedal unlatched if desired as previously described.

The feed rollers 6 and 7 are preferably constructed of a core or tube upon which a considerable thickness of suitable cloth or other yielding material is placed so that the rollers when completed are yielding to a limited extent, to the end that when, the platen is in operating position a sufficient surface contact is obtained between the platen and the rollers to properly feed the material through the machine.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim:

1. In an ironing machine the combination of a plurality of cushioned work feeding rolls, driving mechanism therefor, a platen below the rolls, means for heating the platen, spring operated means for pressing the platen against the feed rolls, foot operated means for overcoming the latter means to lower the platen, a latch cooperating with the foot operated means to hold the platen in lowered position, and disengageable connections between the spring operated means and the platen whereby the latter may be removed from the machine.

In an ironing machine the combination of a pair of cushioned work feeding rollers, a platen co-operating with the rollers, means for heating the platen, spring operated means for pressing the platen against the rollers, means for moving the platen away from the rollers, and a rocking connection between the, platen and the spring operated pressing means located between the lines of contact of the platen and the rollers and out of center between these lines of contact whereby greater pressure will be applied to one roller than to the other.

in an ironing machine the combina tion of an entering cushioned work feeding roller, a second cushioned work feeding roller mounted below and to the rear of the first mentioned roller, a platen co-operating with both rollers, means for heating the platen, spring operated means for pressing the platen against the rollers, means for moving the platen away from the rollers, a rocking connection between the platen an the spring operated pressing means located between the lines of contact of the rollers with the platen and closer to the second feed roller whereby greater pressure will be applied to the second feed roller than to the entering feed roller, and means for causing the platen to move away feed roller before it leaves the second feed roller when the means for moving the platen away from the rollers is operated.

EDGAR L. YORK.

from the entering 

